Logically, it doesn't seem possible for great character and big bureaucracy to be linked. This writer found the exception and it's closer than Jacksonians might realize.
As close, in fact, as The McCoy Federal Building. Admittedly, it's an eyesore, but it honors the legacy of a locally renowned dentist and acknowledges a history that began with one man's dedication.
That's really what the man behind the name, Dr.A.H McCoy, was all about. And for those of you familiar only with his roles as a dentist and dental surgeon, it might be intriguing to know something of McCoy beyond the tweezers and spatula. For in the JP's intention to depart from the mainstream and to enlighten beyond the worn standards of the vaster media, we though it refreshing to delve into the track record of a public figure whom we believe made a difference. And who knows? The results might just alter your taste for our great system of democracy.
So never mind that even today people boast of and sometimes display dental work performed by McCoy decades ago. Never mind his extraordinary business skills, although in 1938, he founded what now ranks as one of the top minority-owned businesses in the nation, The Security Life Insurance Company.
There are those like George Harman, owner of Harman Drugs in Jackson, who, by McCoy's consistent and polished advice, was fed a lifetime of encouragement. He has not forgotten his ambitious, but humble, Alpha Fraternity brother and the gentle guidance and encouraging spirit that he said was so characteristic of McCoy.
"He was the type of person who believed in being on the go--in keeping busy with or at something because he didn't believe that any good or any accomplishments in life could be made by just sitting around doing nothing,"said Harman, recalling a day back in the mid 1970s when McCoy spoke magical, enduring words to him.
"One day he dropped by the store, as he often did. Though I usually stayed busy doing different things around the store, on that particular day I was basically just sitting around doing nothing," said Harman. When McCoy asked him what he was doing, his reply was just that. He was doing nothing. McCoy's response was like glue. It stuck with Harman and was the cause of much soul-searching.
"He told me that if I expected to get anywhere in life, I had to keep busy working at or towards something," said Harman. The best example was McCoy himself.
Born into a prosperous Jackson family and educated at Tougaloo College and The Meharry Medical College in Nashville, McCoy had always been particularly adamant about social change. In fact, besides his acclaimed dentistry skills, there were other things that he was equally interested in and adept at, things relevant not only to an era, but to the extreme social changes that accompanied it. Early into the Civil Rights movement, McCoy was tagged " a tireless worker on behalf of the poor and for the rights of black people and doing all that he could to enhance the quality of life for all people in Mississippi." Simply stated, he had sampled the system long enough, decided that its taste could be a whole lot better, so then turned around and tried to do something to make it better.
"He was never willing to accept the standards of the pre-Civil Rights era and he openly opposed them. As a result, he intimidated many whites. They thought of him as somewhat of a threat. As a symbol of the undoing of a cherished way of life for them," said McCoy's widow, Rose Embly-McCoy, reflecting on a man as passionate about social changes as he was about dentistry. Even amidst persecution of a progressive movement, he remained steadfast in his determination to help secure the basic rights of an oppressed population. And the cowards of racism were determined to deter him.
"He showed tremendous willpower and determination which, of course, back in those days was a pretty bold approach for a black man," said Director of Central Mississippi Health Services, Dr. Robert Smith, a former medical colleague or McCoy, Smith stressed the fact that although both McCoy's dental and interpersonal skills were admirable traits, his courage and compassion in the face of fierce opposition were his truly distinct attributes.
"He was just a well rounded and determined person. He was particularly active in things like voter registration and just trying to make sure that blacks would have a better quality of life. He was a courageous man," said Smith.
More courageous, it appears, than his adversaries. For, as would be expected, the hindering strategies came with a vengeance: mock retaliations resulting in subtle, but grave consequences.
For Embly-McCoy, there is one incident that stands out. "One night, a group of whites fired shots into our home, with one bullet barely missing our then three and a half year-old daughter, Roslin. After an article was printed about the incident in the next day's edition of The Jackson Daily News, a group of my husband's friends decided to come stand guard around our home the next night, just in case the ones responsible decided to come back," she said.
"It was the right and natural thing to do. This man was targeted and he had done nothing wrong," said Mississippi Supreme Court Justice, Fred Banks, who was among approximately nine men, including former Supreme Court Justice Ruben Anderson and Jackson businessman, R.L.T Smith, Jr., who chose to defend the lives and property of the McCoys that night .
"Dr.McCoy's ultimate goal for black people was that they would have the chance to enjoy the same privileges allowed whites. Without exceptions. And that, of course, infuriated many Whites. Yet we stood ready to defend both the man and those principles," said Anderson.
"We were armed and we were ready to defend if necessary," said Smith, whose own father, the late R.L.T Smith, Sr., was McCoy's contemporary in The Civil Rights Movement.
Although those with sinister intentions chose not to return, McCoy did return and resume the awesome task of promoting and instigating social change. It was a legacy that could be neither minimized nor ignored, so it was only natural that 12 years after McCoy's death in 1970 a group of prominent African-Americans approached Hinds County Supervisor George Smith for advice concerning an unprecedented goal: the first federal building in the nation to be named in honor of an African-American.
"There were numerous reasons for the consideration of Dr.McCoy's name," said Robert Smith, who chaired the landmark committee which included James Anderson as co-chairman, Aaron Henry as project coordinator, and Embly-McCoy as ex-officio. The primary ones were the fact that the new federal building sat on property that the federal government had bought from McCoy, that the building was located in the nation's oldest African-American business district, the Farish Street District, and, especially McCoy's considerable accomplishments.
According to The Proposal To Name The Federal Building In Honor of Dr. A.H, the committee's rationale for their unanimous conlusion included many diverse factors, but it especially rested on the recognition that Mississippians had at last embraced progress.
Copyright 2000 by Thomas Lowe. Published in The Jackson Progressive, http://www.jacksonprogressive.com. Noncommercial reproduction is hereby authorized provided this notice is included and the article is unaltered.